During the time of COVID-19, our daughter gave us a gift of sourdough starter that she called Jane Dough. Over the course of the year, we’ve had fun creating variations on the basic sourdough recipe. Please enjoy some of these variations below.

Nancy’s Sourdough

Print Recipe

Basic sourdough, plus a bunch of variations

Cuisine American

Keyword bread, sourdough, variations

Total Time 3

Servings 2 loaves

Author Nancy Garvin

Equipment

KitchenAid mixer with dough hook
Mixing bowls
Digital scale
2 Proofing Baskets
Dutch Oven
Glass caserole dish or sheet pan
Bench scraper

Ingredients

Levain

10 g sourdough starter
70 g water
60 g all purpose flour
10 g rye flour

Autolyse

480 g King Arthur bread flour
120 g King Arthur stone ground whole wheat flour
387 g water
150 g rolled oats + 75g water (optional, makes a softer loaf)

Salt water

15 g kosher salt
10 g boiling water or more as needed

Variation One – sweet

1 cup walnut halves
1-½ cup raisins
1 tbsp ground cardamom

Variation Two – chocolate cherry

½ cup Guittard extra dark chocolate baking chips
½ cup Dried unsweetened cherries

Variation Three – savory green olive & herb

1 cup green pitted olives, halved
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp olive oil

Variation Four – zaatar with sesame seeds

2 tbsp zaatar
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp sunflower seeds

Variation Five – rosemary and pecans

1 tbsp rosemary, destemmed and chopped
1 cup pecan halves

Variation Six – seeded beauty

2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tbsp flax seeds, milled

Variation Seven – apple chutney crunch

1 cup firm apple (like pink lady) poached, cored, chopped into chunks
½ tsp cinnamon ground
½ tsp nutmeg ground
¼ tsp choice of: cardomom, allspice, or clove
1 tbsp honey

Instructions

Start the night before. Mix sourdough starter and water in a mixing bowl with a whisk. Add measured flour, mix with a spoon. Let sit in a warm place overnight, loosely covered.
The next morning, combine the bread flour, whole wheat flour and water in the mixing bowl of the KitchenAid mixer, mix well with a spoon. Cover with cling wrap, let it sit in a warm place for one hour.
Using the dough hook on the mixer, knead the autolyse until it is combined, about 1 minute on low. Add levain, continue to mix another minute until smooth. Separately, in a liquid measuring cup, combine the kosher salt with just enough boiling water to dissolve salt. Cover dough with cling wrap, and let it sit for 30 mins while the salt water solution cools.
After the salt and water is cool, add to the dough and kneed with dough hook until combined, about a minute. Cover dough with cling wrap, and let it sit for 30 mins.
Transfer the dough to caserole dish or sheet pan. Starting at one edge, stretch and pull the dough to form long strands. Continue with the other 3 edges. Cover with cling, and let it sit for 45 minutes.
Repeat the stretch and fold step twice more, cover with cling and let it rest 45 minutes between folds. After the third fold, cover let it rest for 30 minutes.
Using your scale, divide the dough in half. Transfer the two halves to a floured countertop, and sprinkle additional flour on top of each. Form a mound with the floured surface on the outside of each. Let the mounds rest, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
Using a bench scraper, flip the mounds over so that the floured surface is on the bottom. The top will be very sticky. Gently stretch the dough to form a long rectangle. If you choose one of the variations, sprinkle the ingredients over the middle third of the rectangle, and fold the bottom third up to cover. Sprinkle more ingredients, and fold over the top third. Then, starting from one end, sprinkle more ingredients and roll tightly to form a cylinder.
Flour your proofing baskets, and place the dough cylinder into the basket with the seam side up. Cover loosely, and proof in a warm place for 15 minutes. Then transfer to the refridgerator to rest overnight.
Place one or two Dutch ovens in the oven and heat the oven and Dutch ovens to 500° F (260° C). Remove proofing baskets from the refrigerator and turn out onto parchment strips. Using a lame, cut a deep slit from top to bottom, about ⅓ of the way down. Cut deep slits on top as well.
Carefully transfer the loaves to the Dutch ovens and bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 450° F (232° C). Remove the lid and bake, uncovered, for an additional 20 minutes. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before slicing.